This guide describes how to create and use a paper
based day planning system.
Much of modern life can be wasted either through
lack of vision, planning or preparation. Rigorously
planning your days can minimalise time spent working
or waiting and maximise engagement with pleasure,
happiness and growth.
The possession of either a pencil and rubber or pen
and white-out marker is essential in the making and
use of a day plan.
It is assumed that the reader is already skilled in
the use of an appointments to-do list and diary.
In this version I have the pleasure of
acknowledging: kayle (at) irational.org for
encouragement otherwise all this research would have
been binned. I would also, like to thank the creator
of lagmhor bay rock shelter (Skye), where most of
this guide was written.

A day plan provides a combined and edited, hence
more readable and specific version of an
appointments diary and to do list.
A planned day can provide a structure to relax into,
in the same way a house is seen as a place of refuge
not a place of confinement. You know whats going to
happen and how much, thus releasing you from the
feeling of being out of control or having too much
to do.
A structured day can help eliminate mental energy
required constantly deciding what to do next.
A day plan should maximise the efficiency of
dispatching chores. I try to have all my work
finished by lunch time. Sitting in a traffic jam can
be a pleasure if approached with a positive
attitude, but more fundamental activities offer
greater happiness and growth such as being in nature
or having sex.
A day plan can enable the utilisation of lost space
and time such as in-between time spent on journeys.
Staring at subway advertisements can be replaced
with walking with friends, doing graffiti or
listening to music.
I am assuming that most people interested in reading
this text will be other artists, who will already
have a containing practice for their activities. If
you don't have such a structure, then develop one.
You energies will be not only easily be focused and
productive, but more meaningful. Structured day
planning is a useful instance of this type of
containment.
Through the repetition of individual ideal elements
we can gradually move towards a recurring perfect
whole day.
Life is full of interruptions, mostly unpleasant. A
clear overview of things you need or want to do can
help rebuff distractions.
A day plan can be used to ring fence time and place
for personal pleasure and growth.
A bottom line of enjoyment can be drawn, above which
the experience of the day can be maintained. It can
be used as proof of unavailability, but can also be
abandoned if better options present themselves. A
fully planned day can be a perfect excuse for not
doing something unpleasant.
Grace of movement can be refined not only on a human
scale, but also on a street and city scale.
Aspirational habit paths can be laid down and easily
followed.
A day plan can be useful for on the move note
taking. Each day plan can be filed for later
reference and analysis.
A day plan can be a space for unwelcome
interventions by your loved ones. Mine regularly
become sketch pads for my girlfriend.

Try to make your day simple.
Most people fail to see that it is possible to
directly achieve their ambitions and get persuaded
into intermediate steps, by people who profit from
the diversion. Try to attempt tasks directly without
meditation steps.
The places we visit and the journeys we undertake
determine the experiences we have and the thoughts
and further actions we follow. A good day plan can
set the conditions for happiness, productivity and a
better tomorrow.
We have the ability to change our environment, often
only in small ways. A stone placed each day, after
some months becomes a path or wall. A single seed
planted each day eventually becomes a woodland.
Make your day plan the evening before. Not only does
this give you a system to slip into upon awakening,
but night planning tends to be more ambitious and
inspired. This is either due to falling off the end
of the daily habitual tracks or just confidence from
completing your day successfully. When you are a
disciple of the day plan you will have both reckless
courage and dogged discipline to move your forward.
A day plan is generated by selecting relevant
appointments from ones diary and pending items from
a to-do list. These will be arranged in a
geographically spaced manner on a convenient sized
piece of paper. A sheet of A4 can be folded twice
and fits easily in the pocket providing ample
planning space.
To create a day plan, first consider tasks and
activities that you would or would not perform, plus
ones that you strongly aspire to.
Then do this for locations where these tasks would
be performed.
When you are clear of your intentions sketch out the
locations you anticipate visiting in the day. Write
today's date on your day plan.
Then add today's appointments and most urgent tasks.
Transfer yesterday's unfinished tasks plus your
preferred tasks.
Also, for each landmark, create a list of tasks that
you do, should do or want to do each or most of the
times you visit. Even obvious things such as
brushing your teeth at home should be included.
Make a non located list of activities that you
intend to perform each day e.g. be somewhere sunny
or smile at people.
Try to include free time and space to allow new or
unexpected events to impose themselves upon you.
Go to a place each day for no reason and do
something that can not be described or easily
repeated.
If a certain method of achievement is no longer
productive, try another or perhaps do nothing for a
few days or weeks. You and the world are always
changing and routines and habits only function
temporarily. Do not hold on to a routine that no
longer works otherwise you will expend more and more
energy and ultimately take a nose dive.
Create a different radical day plan from time to
time or perhaps don't create a day plan at all to
make sure you have not become addicted to something
on your day plan or day planning itself.
If you do decide to enter the cult of the self and
create a delusional world to explore, chart and
commodify, then make sure you have a way out, even
if its only to another delusional state.
Develop different plans day plans for various
weather conditions or different sections of personal
monthly or annual cycles.
Habits are an efficient method of getting things
done. They can also be burdensome. The creation and
maintenance of habit requires a lot of energy this
quickly becomes apparent when we try to step beyond
an ingrained habit. Breaking or disrupting these
habits can release energy for other activities. So
change your routine either temporarily or
permanently on a regular basis. For instance, take a
regular break from being yourself.
In any form of work or training, productivity can be
increased by creating a motivational fantasy.
Going to the bank to pay in cheques will be more
efficient or pleasurable if you believe that you are
practising for a bank robbery or a similar
adventurous activity.
Fighting the system or becoming a celebrity seem to
be the most popular self centered fantasies in our
society.
You may prefer to believe you could be working for
the greater good instead though.
Make sure any fantasy is only employed in limited
amounts. Do not let it breach the confines of the
day plan page and become an escape from the
intensity of the miracle of being alive.
By following a fantasy we build stories. Create
yourself a personal story to understand your past,
but better still, project an ideal story into the
future. Then make sure that most steps lead in that
direction.
Do not believe in your story, just see it as a
useful process.
Develop a passion for your activities. Fantasy may
kick start this process, but get real as soon as
possible and follow the passion. Make sure your
passions are contained and channelled in a
productive and ethical manner.
Each evening consider your successes and advances or
mistakes and failures, then put them to rest.
Transfer unfulfilled tasks to the next day's plan.

Be in places that support your tasks. For example,
if there are five banks in your town, visit the one
that makes you happiest, even if it is not the
closest.
Be careful not to create negative associations at
important landmarks. If something is not happening
to plan and is likely to create bad feeling then
move on and try another day.
Be sure to use the correct names for landmarks as
personalised names could lead you into the cult of
the self. Perhaps use grid references for ultimate
depersonalisation.

Keep tasks to a minimum. Do not fall for the idea
that attempting or fulfilling many tasks equals
achievement. Concentrate on the quality of your
effort and the full completion of tasks.
If a task can not be completed or even started then
create the conditions in which it can.
Remember that apart from the occasional exceptional
moment, daily life is as good as it gets, so make
sure you include a little or lot of the things that
bring you joy. Don't wait for a holiday or party to
have fun, do it while you produce.
In an authoritarian society, a day plan can provide
authorisation to act.
Making time for and writing down indicates good
reasoning and provides permission and thus removes
shame e.g. look at pornography/ watch television.
Always remember, that having nothing to do is the
highest state of efficiency and achievement. Do not
feel anxious and tempted to fill up free time with
work.
Be aware not only of what other secondary tasks are
required to attempt or complete a primary task, but
also which further tasks will result from its
completion.
For example, to take a photograph not only is a
fully functioning camera required, but also a system
for transferring, naming, ordering and storing the
final image. It may be better not to take the
photograph in the first place.
Make sure to add some seemingly unfulfillable tasks,
which would take you many steps forward if achieved.
Attempting them will stretch and broaden you.
Failure will demonstrate your limits, while success
will surprise and inspire you.
Add things that will challenge you, but don't feel
guilty if you do not do them.
If you fail to fulfill a task then be careful not to
attempt it again too soon. If you continually fail
to complete a task, drop it for sometime, otherwise
you will generate negative associations which will
undermine the success of your future attempts.

Try to follow simple looping journeys.
Keep routes as uncomplicated as possible. Try not to
cross other routes or visit the same landmark more
than once in the same day.
Be aware of all the different methods of transport
that are available between landmarks. Also, consider
the activities that are possible en-route between
landmarks e.g. listening to music/ meditating/
skateboarding.
Two people can perform the exact same tasks each
day, but the order in which they are performed can
define each persons sense of self. You can have a
totally different day just by altering when and
where tasks are enacted.
Follow routes that make you happy as well as
efficient. Try to vary your routes otherwise you will
get bored with them and thus reduce your happiness.
Occasionally make a new route deviating from
predefined public routes. For example, climb a wall
or go through a semi-private building.
If you really enjoyed a route or are preparing to
start an anxiety-generating route, run the route
through your mind several times in a positive
fashion. When you actually perform the route next,
it should be with more joy and ease.

Keep in mind your main intentions for the day. Be
prepared to modify or abandon a task if it is going
to disrupt the overall form of the day.
People make their own good luck or more precisely,
they lay the conditions to respond constructively to
chance happenings. Remember that your day plan is a
mitigation of living in a competitive, degraded
society and that occasionally things break down and
something generous or rich is on offer
If such a door opens, take the opportunity and
discard your day plan. A perfect day plan is one
that neutralises the deadening effects of your
environment and prepares you for an instance of life
and celebration. Your days should be a party zone.
Be present in your activity. There is no point
planning a day for growth and happiness if you come
back either not remembering or moved by it.
Make sure that in your quest to fulfil your day
plan, you do not ignor the events going on around
you, but do not get become distracted by them.
Follow your day plan almost to the letter unless it
states; do not look in shop windows or at attractive
people.
Perhaps, see yourself as an actor following a
script.
Consider what might go wrong in your day and run
through your mind positive actions. This should
ensure that your on-the-ground response will be
constructive.
Note any compulsion to stray from your day plan or
any avoidance of any activity or location.
Do not think ill thoughts of others as this will
hinder your progress.
Do not worry, its either being dealt with on today's
plan or you can add it to tomorrow's.
Do not at any time call yourself a day plan artist
or maker. If you are already a day plannist then
seek help from a psychologist.
If you are suffering from pain then make sure any
regular day plan, location or activity you adopt is
not a form of escape.
Perhaps include an activity or place to confront any
pains directly.
Changing one's routine can create the conditions for
certain pains to ease or disappear. For example,
not engaging in arguments or eating too much sugar
tend to improve ones well being.
Study which activities generate less work. Perhaps
consider abandoning tasks which directly make more
tasks.

If you are attracted to a landmark or activity, but
have no valid reason to go there, still visit or
act. After several repetitions you will find that
you soon have compelling and legitimate reasons to
visit on a regular basis.

Do not doubt a task: if it was important enough to
add to the day planner, then get on with it.
Take note of any emotions you may have during your
day, but do not let them cause you to deviate from
your day plan. Most of us have little control over
thoughts and emotions, but we do mostly have control
over our actions. Perform the actions on your day
plan that were decided with rational good intent.
Always remember this could be your last day, so
complete your tasks with pleasure and grace. Do not
concern yourself too strongly over the coming tasks,
as with any luck, you will not have to perform them.
I am a strong believer in the idea that your last 10
seconds of life are the most important. Don't be
thinking about unfinished scheduled tasks on during
this time. Equally so, make sure you add the tasks
today that you want fulfilled before you die. Its
good to have nothing to live for.
After each task, cross it out and select the next
one to attempt. Consider the next task as you
approach its landmark so that you will be in the
correct mental state to attempt it. Also, note
landmarks generate unique states in the minds of the
surrounding people. Try to anticipate the best
mental state required to attempt and complete a
specific task.

Place trust in the systems and people who can offer
you assistance. The occasional inconvenient
disruption of a service will be much less stressful
than the continuous daily expenditure of personal
anxious energy.
Develop friendships or at least acknowledgements with
people along your routes or at your landmarks.

Give yourself license to perform unusual activities
and see if you take the opportunity.
Ask around to see if other people create day plans.
If so, compare your day plans and look for
commonalities. See if you perform the same task and
note different approaches.
Perhaps get other people to follow your day plan
either to have a break from yourself or get another
persons interpretation on your organisational
skills. You may find it interesting to follow their
day plan.
Make an imagined day plan for someone else and then
follow it to get better understanding of that
persons life and perspectives.
Create a shared day plan with a partner or a friend
for increased efficiency and better understanding of
the others daily experience.
Perhaps get someone to follow you on one of your
regular days and make a record of your actual
activities. This can be compared to your day plan to
discover discrepancies between your intentions and
your true actions.
Perhaps spend a whole day at one landmark or
repeating a journey, taking note of all the tasks
undertaken by other people. This may give greater
insight into your own motivations, methods,
efficiency and results.
It may be interesting to repeat a past day plan.
This maybe a way to discover the spirit in the
machine.
Perhaps make an internal day plan and plan for the
emotions or thoughts to be experienced during the
day.